


The Forest Foray

by junietuesday25



Series: QLFC Entries [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Acromantulas, Gen, Hogwarts Forbidden Forest, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Marauders Friendship (Harry Potter), Werewolves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-22
Updated: 2018-05-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:20:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22471735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/junietuesday25/pseuds/junietuesday25
Summary: The Marauders don't have the best judgement. So it's really not a surprise when they decide to explore the Forbidden Forest, and, of course, almost get themselves killed in the process. But that's just par for the course, isn't it?
Series: QLFC Entries [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1616734
Kudos: 1





	The Forest Foray

**Author's Note:**

> **1/29/20:** lmao remember when i used to do properly capitalized, non-song lyric titles

“This is stupid,” Remus hissed furiously, scanning the area. “This is the stupidest idea you’ve ever had, and I’ve lived with you lot for four years.”

“Lighten up, Remy,” Sirius said brightly. “This isn’t the most dangerous thing we’ve done.”

“One, don’t call me Remy, and two, this is, undoubtedly, _the_ most dangerous thing we’ve ever done.”

The Marauders were huddled under the Invisibility Cloak, sneaking their way into the Forbidden Forest under the cover of the night. Apparently, it was to ‘get to know the rest of the absolutely _lovely_ inhabitants of Hogwarts better’ because ‘it really was quite a shame that they hadn’t tried to become more friendly with the wonderful Forest dwellers sooner.’ But Remus was sure that his best friends simply had a death wish.

“Besides,” said Peter in a long-suffering tone, “if I have to pay for James’s and Sirius’s malfunctioning brains, then you should too. It’s only fair.”

“Our brains aren’t malfunctioning,” said Sirius. Peter found himself having a sudden, violent coughing fit. 

“Come on, Remy,” said James, over the loud, pointed coughs. He clapped Remus on the back. “We’ll clear right out of the forest as soon as we come across anything unsavory, alright?”

“Don’t call me Remy,” mumbled Remus, but against his will, he was feeling growing excitement. He wasn’t a Marauder for nothing, after all.

Sirius caught his expression, however. He tapped Remus on the nose with his lit wand. “Aw, there you go, Remy! That’s the spirit!”

“We’re all idiots,” Remus lamented. “We’re all bloody idiots.”

“But you love us, right?” said Sirius, as the Marauders maneuvered around a twitching Whomping Willow and into the forest. James pulled the Invisibility Cloak off and stuffed it into his pocket; they didn’t want to lose the Cloak in the thick brambles of the forest.

“As if,” said Remus, rolling his eyes, but suppressing a grin. “It was really quite terrible luck that we all ended up in the same dormitory.”

James opened his mouth to reply, but before he could, Peter let out a shriek.

“What the—?” started James, until he noticed fierce, glowing eyes peering from the bushes around the clearing they were in.

“Brilliant. Bloody brilliant,” said Sirius, backing away from the creepy eyes. 

The owners of the eyes advanced, revealing their long snouts, dark, furry bodies, and full, bushy tails. 

Wolves. 

Remus pointed his wand at the creatures, but they didn’t seem to be aggressive. Instead, they lumbered up to Remus and rubbed themselves against his legs.

That was when he realized what was going on.

“I think these are the werewolves that Professor Dumbledore told me about!” whispered Remus, as the wolves butted their heads against his calves. “They’re from two werewolves that reproduced during the full moon, and now they’re being studied here. They’re exactly like normal wolves, except they have an abnormally high intelligence. And since I’m a werewolf too, they won’t hurt me or what they think of as my pack.”

Professor Dumbledore had warned Remus that if he wandered near the outskirts of the forest, these wolves might attempt to approach him because they were attracted to the magic of the wolf in him.

“That’s possible?” asked Peter, as the wolves flopped themselves down next to Remus. “What are the chances of that happening?”

“Very slim, but the results are” — Remus looked down — “er, drooling all over my foot.”

Sirius and James were trying very hard not to burst out laughing at Remus’ predicament. He was attempting to nudge the wolves off of his feet without disturbing them, but this was proving to be very difficult, as the heavy canines seemed to be unwilling to move.

“Come on, get up!” said Remus irritatedly, wiggling his foot. To his surprise, they stood up and looked at him with their tongues lolling out of their mouths.

“I think they listen to you because you’re a werewolf,” said Sirius, looking at the wolves in interest. 

“Maybe.” Professor Dumbledore hadn’t told him about that, but it could be that no one had discovered it yet. “Uh, sit.” As soon as Remus spoke the words, the wolves sat down obligingly.

“Whoa, cool!” said James. A mischievous smile spread over his face. “Imagine the kind of pranks we could pull off with a bunch of wolves on our side!”

“Let’s not,” said Peter hurriedly, looking at the twin troublemaking expressions on Sirius’s and James’s faces. “Chances are we’d be expelled for bringing werewolves into the castle and endangering our fellow students.”

“Fine,” said Sirius, pouting. Then he brightened. “What if these two could be our tour guides/bodyguards? Just for now. Then we can explore without getting worried about a giant spider or some other insane monster attacking us.”

“Okay,” said Remus, “but only if these two agree.”

“Sure,” said James and Peter.

Remus rolled his eyes. “Not you, pea-brains,” he said. “I meant the wolves.”

“Right,” said James. “I knew that. Definitely.”

Remus ignored him. “What do you think?” he asked the wolves.

Nodding in an eerily human-like way, the two wolves bounded off.

“Hey, wait!” yelled Sirius, and the rest of the Marauders ran after the wolves.

The wolves paused in front of a thorny bush. Putting their paws to their mouths — _When had they learned human non-verbal communication?_ — they looked over at the clearing ahead.

The Marauders crouched below the bushes and followed the wolves’ gazes. What they saw shocked them into an awed silence.

A brilliant white unicorn and its shimmering golden foal were grazing on the grass in the clearing. Occasionally, the mother would look up and scan the surrounding area, but she didn’t notice them.

Just then, Remus noticed one of the wolves slinking around the edge of the clearing, a hungry look in its eyes. A glance at the wolf still next to them confirmed his thoughts. 

“Stop it!” he hissed. The wolves came back, but turned pleading eyes on him.

“I didn’t do anything!” said Sirius, bewildered.

“Not you! The wolves!” said Remus. “They were about to ambush the unicorns!”

“Maybe we’d best leave the wolves here,” said James. He glanced uneasily at the wolves. “Who knows what else they might try to eat.”

With that, they left the wolves and wandered deeper into the forest.

“Um, guys?” said Peter, looking around nervously. “I have a bad feeling about this.”

“Don’t be such a chicken, Peter,” said Sirius, rolling his eyes. “You’ve lasted this long.”

“No, really,” he said. He pointed. “I’m seeing some spider webs that look very much like they were made by the biggest spider in existence.”

The Marauders followed his gaze, and gasped in horror. A humongous spider web was draped across the trees. And to top it all off, spiders the size of small cars were lowering themselves down to the ground, clicking their pincers menacingly.

They screamed.

Weaving their way through the underbrush, the Marauders ran as fast as they could, firing off countless _Arania Exumai_ s behind them.

“I knew we shouldn’t have ditched our bodyguards!” yelled Peter, almost tripping over a root. 

It was with immense relief that the Marauders stumbled out of the forest. Still in shock, they wrapped themselves in the Invisibility Cloak and made their way back into the safety of Gryffindor Tower.

Once they arrived in their dormitory, they all collapsed on the ground.

“I — told — you — so,” gasped Remus, clutching his side.

“This is not the time for an ‘I told you so,’” said James, panting.

“You’re helping me with my essays for a week, at least,” said Peter, his voice muffled, as he was curled up into a ball. “I may be permanently traumatized.”

“That was great, wasn’t it?” said Sirius brightly, looking not at all winded. “We should do that again sometime!”

The rest of the Marauders glared at him.

**Author's Note:**

> from [pottermore](https://www.wizardingworld.com/writing-by-jk-rowling/werewolves):
>
>> One curious feature of the condition is that if two werewolves meet and mate at the full moon (a highly unlikely contingency which is known to have occurred only twice) the result of the mating will be wolf cubs which resemble true wolves in everything except their abnormally high intelligence. They are not more aggressive than normal wolves and do not single out humans for attack. Such a litter was once set free, under conditions of extreme secrecy, in the Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts, with the kind permission of Albus Dumbledore. The cubs grew into beautiful and unusually intelligent wolves and some of them live there still, which has given rise to the stories about ‘werewolves’ in the Forest – stories none of the teachers, or the gamekeeper, has done much to dispel because keeping students out of the Forest is, in their view, highly desirable.


End file.
